Multiple news outlets reported the planned closings over the weekend and this morning, Jan. 25.
The chocolates will still be available for ordering online, and is carried by a number of other retailers, including Kroger, Costco, Walgreens, CVS Pharmacy and Target, according to the company’s web site.
The company is closing or selling all 128 of its brick-and-mortar stores in North America, it announced in a statement. It plans to complete the closures and sales by the end of March.
Godiva will keep its bricks-and-mortar stores open across Europe, the Middle East and China.
According to cnn.com, Godiva had been planning a massive expansion by getting into the café business. The chocolatier opened its first café in the U.S. in New York City in April 2019 and announced that it planned on opening 10 more in New York and more than 400 across the country. It was part of a plan to open 2,000 new cafes around the world.
But that plan never came to fruition, CNN reported. Godiva relied heavily on mall traffic, which had been weakening even before the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the problem.
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